By NICK GIONGCO
Eumir Marcial shows his “ticket” to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial’s rousing performance didn’t rub off on the four other Filipino fighters in the Asia-Oceania Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournament in Amman, Jordan.
Early Tuesday (late Monday night in Jordan), flyweight Irish Magno and lightweight Riza Pasuit wilted in the quarterfinals, dropping similar unanimous decisions to Mary Kom of India and Shih-Yi Wuh of Chinese-Taipei, respectively.
Hours earlier, fly Carlo Paalam and women’s feather top seed Nesthy Petecio were also handed the pink slip by Amit Panghal of India and Sena Irie of Japan to the tune of 4-1.
Still, Paalam and Magno could still end up taking the bus to the Olympics if they win their scheduled boxoffs.
Paalam faces a Kazakh puncher while Magno meets a Tajik in the other boxoff since the top six in their respective divisions will advance to the Olympics.
“If they win in the boxoffs, they’ll be in the Olympics,” said Abap secretary-general Ed Picson.
Earlier in the tournament, feather Ian Clark Bautista and welter James Palicte were eliminated, leaving Marcial as the only one who made the Tokyo grade.
Marcial , 24, who stopped his Mongolian rival in the quarterfinals to earn the Olympic berth, could still top the slugfest if he wins his last two bouts.
But all is not lost for the non-winners as Paris is set to staging the World Qualifying from May 13-24, where the Filipinos will mix it up one last time with entries from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia-Oceania.
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, boxing just sent two qualifiers—light-fly Rogen Ladon and lightweight Charly Suarez—who also got eliminated early.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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